Larry Fink (born March 11, 1941) is an American photographer best known for his
black-and-white
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
images of people at
parties
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...
and in other social situations.
Life and career
Fink was born in 1941 in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York. His father, Bernard Fink, was a lawyer, and mother, Sylvia Caplan Fink, was an anti-nuclear weapon activist and an elder rights activist for the
Gray Panthers
The Gray Panthers are a series of multi-generational local advocacy networks in the United States which confront ageism and many other social justice issues. The organization was formed by Maggie Kuhn in response to her forced retirement from th ...
. His younger sister was noted lawyer
Elizabeth Fink
Elizabeth Marsha Fink (June 7, 1945 – September 22, 2015) was an American civil rights and criminal defense attorney. She is most prominently associated with lawsuits concerning the Attica Prison riots. A class action suit she filed in 197 ...
(1945–2015).
He grew up in a politically conscious household and has described himself as "a
Marxist
Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...
from
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...
."
He studied at the
New School for Social Research
The New School for Social Research (NSSR) is a graduate-level educational institution that is one of the divisions of The New School in New York City, United States. The university was founded in 1919 as a home for progressive era thinkers. NSSR ...
in New York City, where photographer
Lisette Model
Lisette Model (born Elise Amelie Felicie Stern; November 10, 1901 – March 30, 1983) was an Austrian-born American photographer primarily known for the frank humanism of her street photography.
A prolific photographer in the 1940s and a member ...
was one of his teachers and encouraged his work.
[Larry Fink, American, born 1941]
Museum of Contemporary Photography
He has been on the faculty of Bard College
Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark.
Founded in 1860, ...
since 1986. Earlier he taught at other institutions including the Yale University School of Art
The Yale School of Art is the art school of Yale University. Founded in 1869 as the first professional fine arts school in the United States, it grants Masters of Fine Arts degrees to students completing a two-year course in graphic design, painti ...
(1977–1978), Cooper Union
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...
School of Art and Architecture (1978–1983), Parsons School of Design, and New York University
New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin.
In 1832, the ...
.
Larry Fink left his longtime photography agency Bill Charles Represents on May 23, 2012.
Works
Fink's best-known work is ''Social Graces'', a series of photographs he produced in the 1970s that depicted and contrasted wealthy Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
ites at fashionable clubs and social events alongside working-class people from rural Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
participating in events such as high school graduations. ''Social Graces'' was the subject of a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art
The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...
in 1979 and was published in book form in 1984.[ A '']New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' reviewer described the series as exploring social class by comparing "two radically divergent worlds", while accomplishing "one of the things that straight photography does best: provid ngexcruciatingly intimate glimpses of real people and their all-too-fallibly-human lives."
In 2001, for an assignment from ''The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
'', Fink created a series of satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
color images of President George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
and his cabinet (portrayed by stand-ins) in scenes of decadent revelry modeled on paintings by Weimar-era painters Max Beckmann
Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s ...
, Otto Dix
Wilhelm Heinrich Otto Dix (; 2 December 1891 – 25 July 1969) was a German painter and printmaker, noted for his ruthless and harshly realistic depictions of German society during the Weimar Republic and the brutality of war. Along with George ...
and George Grosz. The planned publication of the series was canceled after the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...
, but was displayed in the summer of 2004 at the PowerHouse Gallery in New York, in a show titled "The Forbidden Pictures: A Political Tableau."
Awards and honors
Fink was the recipient of Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...
s in 1976Guggenheim Foundation Fellows list
accessed September 25, 2010 and 1979 and National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...
Individual Photography Fellowships in 1978 and 1986. In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate from the College for Creative Studies
College for Creative Studies (CCS) is a private art school in Detroit, Michigan. It enrolls more than 1,400 students and focuses on arts education. The college is also active in offering art education to children through its Community Arts Par ...
in Detroit.[
]
Publications
* ''Photographs.'' San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 1981. Booklet accompanying an exhibition by Fink and Joel Sternfeld
Joel Sternfeld (born June 30, 1944) is an American fine-art color photographer. He is noted for his large-format documentary pictures of the United States and helping establish color photography as a respected artistic medium.
Sternfeld's work is ...
.
* ''Ist Fotografie Kunst? Gehört Fotografie ins Museum?'' "Internationales Fotosymposion 1981, Schloss Mickeln bei Düsseldorf." Munich: Mahnert-Lueg, 1982. . Contribution by Fink.
* ''Social Graces.'' Millerton, New York: Aperture
In optics, an aperture is a hole or an opening through which light travels. More specifically, the aperture and focal length of an optical system determine the cone angle of a bundle of rays that come to a focus in the image plane.
An opt ...
, 1984. (clothbound); (collectors' edition); (softcover).
** ''Social Graces.'' New York: PowerHouse, 1999. (regular edition); (limited edition). Larger format and redesigned, with an introductory text (first published in 1979) by Max Kozloff
Max Kozloff (born 1933) is an American art historian, art critic of modern art and photographer. He has been art editor at ''The Nation'', and Executive Editor of ''Artforum''. His essay "American Painting During the Cold War" is of particular im ...
.
* ''Focus Santa Barbara.'' Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum, 1985. Catalogue for an exhibition, September–October 1985, by Fink, Walter Cotton, Lee Friedlander
Lee Friedlander (born July 14, 1934) is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 1970s, Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of his photographs including fragm ...
, Mary Ellen Mark
Mary Ellen Mark (March 20, 1940 – May 25, 2015) was an American photographer known for her photojournalism, documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and t ...
, Richard Misrach
Richard Misrach (born 1949) is an American photographer. He has photographed the deserts of the American West, and pursued projects that document the changes in the natural environment that have been wrought by various man-made factors such as ...
, and Richard Ross.
* ''Pleasures and Terrors of Domestic Comfort.'' New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1991. Edited by Peter Galassi
Peter Johnston Galassi (born April 18, 1951) is an American writer, curator, and art historian working in the field of photography. His principal fields are photography and nineteenth-century French art.
Education
Galassi graduated from Phillip ...
, contribution by Fink.
* ''Still Working: Underknown Artists of Age in America.'' ew York Parsons School of Design, New York, 1994. . Edited by Stewart Shedletsky; photographs by Fink; essays by Ann Gibson.
* ''Waking the Wood: Martha Posner: January 19 through March 2, 1995.'' Allentown, PA: Frank Martin Gallery, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, 995
Year 995 ( CMXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Japan
* 17 May - Fujiwara no Michitaka (imperial regent) dies.
* 3 June: Fujiwara no Michikane gain ...
Booklet with an introduction and photographs by Larry Fink, essay by J.M. Welker.
* ''Uma cidade assim.'' Matosinhos: Câmara Municipal de Matosinhos, 1996. . Photographs by Fink and Bruno Sequeira.[A companion volume () has photographs by ]Gabriele Basilico
Gabriele Basilico (12 August 1944 – 13 February 2013) was an Italian photographer who defined himself as "a measurer of space".
Born in Milan, Italy in 1944, he originally studied to become an architect before pursuing a career in photography. H ...
and Augusto Alves da Silva.
* ''Boxing.'' New York: PowerHouse, 1997. (regular edition); (limited edition). By Fink. Introduction by Andy Grundberg; essay by Bert Randolph Sugar.
* ''Fish and Wine: Larry Fink's Photographs of Portugal.'' Easton, PA: Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
, Art Gallery, Williams Center for the Arts, 1997. . Booklet to accompany an exhibition held in September 1997 at Lafayette College
Lafayette College is a private liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 1832. The founders voted to name the college after General Laf ...
, Easton, Pennsylvania, and October–November 1997 at Gateway Center IV, Newark, New Jersey. With an essay by George E. Panichas.
* ''Rent.'' New York: William Morrow, 1997. . About the musical ''Rent
Rent may refer to:
Economics
*Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property
*Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production
*Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...
''; by Jonathan Larson
Jonathan David Larson (February 4, 1960 – January 25, 1996) was an American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for writing the musicals ''Rent'' and '' Tick, Tick... Boom!'', which explored the social issues of multiculturalism, ...
et al.; photography by Fink and Stewart Ferebee.
* ''Ellis Island: Echoes from a Nation's Past.'' New York: Aperture, 1997. . With photographs by Fink and others.
* ''Runway.'' New York: PowerHouse, 1999. (regular edition); (limited edition). By Fink, with an introduction by Guy Trebay.
* ''A City Seen: Photographs from the George Gund Foundation Collection.'' Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2002. . Contribution by Fink.
* ''The Forbidden Pictures: Photographs.'' New York: PowerHouse, 2004. . Twelve photographs by Fink, with texts by Fink and others.
* ''Woolrich Roadtrip 2004, New York, NY to Woolrich, PA.'' Woolrich, PA: Woolrich
Woolrich, Inc. ( ) is an American outdoor clothing company that originated in Woolrich, Pennsylvania in 1830.
History
Woolrich, Inc., founded in 1830 by John Rich and Daniel McCormick, is the oldest manufacturer of outdoor wear in the United ...
, 2004.
* ''Larry Fink.'' Phaidon 55. London: Phaidon, 2005. . By Laurie Dahlberg.
* ''Primal Elegance.'' Portfolio Book Series, no. 6. Revere, PA: Lodima, 2005. . Edition of 1000. Fourteen photographs by Fink of mantis
Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats. They ha ...
es.
* ''Somewhere There's Music.'' Bologna: Damiani, 2006. ; . By Fink, with an essay by George E. Panichas.
* ''Cleveland Clinic: Two Views.'' Cleveland: Cleveland Clinic, 2006. . Photographs by Fink and Andrew Moore.
* ''Effetto Luce.'' Florence: Luce della Vite, 2007. The publisher's description: "In 2007 Luce della Vite, the Montalcino wine producer hosted an gala event with international media and guests, including celebrities from the worlds of entertainment, fashion, wine and business, arrive in Florence to celebrate launch of new Luce wine at the prestigious Villa i Collazzi in Florence on Saturday night and photographer Larry Fink captured the most significant moments of the Effetto Luce evening."
* ''Night at the Met.'' N.p. Fotovision, 2009. Photographs by Fink of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
.
* ''The Vanities: Hollywood Parties 2000–2009: Photographs.'' Munich: Schirmer/Mosel, 2011. . By Fink, with essays by Lucy Sante and Ash Carter, text in English and German.
* ''Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire: 50 Years in Photography.'' Saint Louis, MO: The Sheldon Art Galleries, 011 . Accompanying an exhibition at the Sheldon Art Galleries, February–May 2011. With an essay by Olivia Lahs-Gonzales.
* ''Contatti. Provini d'Autore'' = ''Choosing the best photo by using the contact sheet''. Vol. I. Edited by Giammaria De Gasperis. Rome: Postcart, 2012. . Contribution by Fink.
* ''Larry Fink on Composition and Improvisation.'' New York: Aperture, 2014. . With an introduction by Lisa Kereszi.
* ''The Beats.'' Brooklyn, NY: PowerHouse, 2014. . Photographs by Fink of the beats, with an essay and poem by Gerald Stern
Gerald Daniel Stern (February 22, 1925 – October 27, 2022) was an American poet, essayist, and educator. The author of twenty collections of poetry and four books of essays, he taught literature and creative writing at Temple University, Indi ...
and an essay by Robert Cordier.
* ''Kindred Spirits.'' Minor Matters, 2014. By Fink, with an essay by Peter Barberie.
* ''Opening the Sky.'' London: Stanley Barker, 2015. .
Notes
References
External links
Larry Fink Photography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Larry
1941 births
Living people
American photographers
Photography academics
Writers on photographic techniques
Bard College faculty
People from Brooklyn
Vanity Fair (magazine) people